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89: Numbers Matter Nothing
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🛸 The SOT!! cohosts – Lauren, Ben, and Rie – journey out of the Apocalypse and into the Shadowlands following the blazing meteor of an OTA on course straight for Meta-polis. 🌆🌠
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- May Season Card Rankings ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap!! 🫰
- including Grand Arena ⚔️ Mother Askani 🤱 and the OTA ⚖️
Rie's Game
- Rue Mer Trailer (give it all the love!)
- Rue Mer on Google Play
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
- Thumbnail portraits by Adam Star
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Shadowlands Daredevil
- 0:09:16 Wilson Fisk
- 0:12:44 Karen Page
- 0:19:00 Punisher War Machine
- 0:26:23 Ikari
- 0:31:08 Muse
- 0:37:05 Lady Bullseye
- 0:42:45 Stick
- 0:51:26 Our Week in Snap / Grand Arena / OTA
- 1:33:31 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Card Ranking Process Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Let's rank these May cards, huh? ah ah Rank rate. We're rating them. ah if you haven't If you haven't heard us rate cards before, one to four. That's the scale. One bad, four good. Think of it however you like. It started as thumbs, you know, two thumbs down, two thumbs up, that sort of thing. But you think about it however you want.
00:00:21
Speaker
ah First up, we have our season pass. I'll ah i'll give it to you, Re, Daredevil.
00:00:30
Speaker
ah Okay, starting. um The season pass is going to be a Shadowlands Daredevil, a two three with on reveal shuffle three demons when you draw a card with six more power ah plus two power.
00:00:49
Speaker
Shadowlands Daredevil. um I will, I am very curious to hear what you all think of this, because my thought process is with this, I'm like, okay, you know, three demons, good, a one six, right? Like, awesome ratio. We like those. They're easy to buff up with, like, Patriot, you know, Kazaar, so they can fit into a lot of different um things. But then it's like, okay, shuffling, Shuffling into your deck now. Hmm. Okay. That's like, now it's like, okay, sometimes you don't want to draw a one cost
Introduction and Analysis of Shadowlands Daredevil
00:01:24
Speaker
card. You know what i mean? You don't want to empty out your hand. So now you start thinking about like, you know, it's like, okay, well, do you have more big cards in hand? Are you replicate? Like, what are you doing with these to like mitigate that kind of risk or account for it?
00:01:41
Speaker
And, you know, getting plus two when drawing a card, was it's pretty good. It's just such a weird, this is such a weird, like, bit it's like cards are just getting to, they're like, they have all these big ideas. you know what I mean? They have all these components. And it's like, it's exciting to me when I can see like a clear concept on a card. It's just a lot. I don't know. I'm not super excited about it, to be honest. what did How did you guys read this?
00:02:10
Speaker
you I might have missed it. Are you giving it a number? Are you waiting to hear what What I am doing... ok I'm going to call this now as a ah As... As fan service? Wait, what is it called? When you are pleasing your audience. um Because someone wants... in enjoyed ah when I was totally ill-prepared and I told you guys um to convince me of your rankings. So providing that, I would like to hear what you think short of this card and sway me Yes, and then I will make my final ranking based on your arguments, please.
00:02:51
Speaker
And for that reason, I'm out. Okay, cool, cool. I like this. Ben? Ben? All right. I got some thoughts about Shadowlands Daredevil.
00:03:02
Speaker
Um, I'd like this. i mean, i i don't like the guy. I gave it a two. I'm just being nice. um We love 1-6 demons when they're in our hand.
00:03:14
Speaker
um There's a reason the H-O-O-D doesn't shuffle them into your deck. Oh my gosh, what are we doing here? Oh, and when you draw one, you get plus two power. And when you draw another big card that started in your deck, you get plus two power. How big is Shadowlands Daredevil getting? Like, if it gets to be... naan i don't I don't know. I just think i think the card is doing a bad thing, which is shuffling three demons into your deck.
00:03:39
Speaker
um
Evaluation of Wilson Fisk and Karen Page
00:03:40
Speaker
Demons are cool, but not when you have to draw them instead of real cards with text boxes. um You know what would make me like this for a little more?
00:03:51
Speaker
with What you were saying earlier made me think too. It's like, oh, because you like them in your hand too because that means they also go with Victoria hand. Right? like Yes. When they get shuffled in your deck, they don't get buffed by Victoria. They're not a Victoria hander.
00:04:09
Speaker
Okay, continue, please. Being friends with Victoria Hand is a really good thing to be. um Yeah, I'd like this card a lot better if maybe it said draw a card as part of the on-reveal, because right now what it says is shuffle garbage into your deck.
00:04:26
Speaker
And there needs to be like something to offset that. like I wish it drew more than one card, to be honest.
00:04:36
Speaker
But yeah, I think i think it's 2, but I'm just being nice. oh I think it's at least a 2. I think 2 is safe. um and i'll i'll I'll explain it. This this card I have mixed on, I was very hard on it the first time I saw it because I hate the deck thickening. Of course I do. It's terrible.
00:04:54
Speaker
um But then I was like, you know, people don't play on vibranium mines as much as they should. And you know what's better than vibranium? Demons. Demons. So it's like, okay, well, maybe I just have to accept that this card is is playable but isn't my type. ah Feels a lot like a Moondragon to me in terms of like power, but gets to be played in a totally different type of deck.
00:05:18
Speaker
um And I point to Moondragon, not Chamber, because this guy is very bad. If you play him late, that's ah that's a point against him. Yeah, the train and leaves the station. Yeah.
00:05:32
Speaker
I'm just like, I do like demons, but I don't know how much I like demons that cost me draw. Right? So I think he is like spoilers for the rest of my rankings is I think he's one of the best cards this season, but I think he's yeah bad. Like, I just think, I think it's a very weak season.
00:05:51
Speaker
It's like, if I don't give him a three, I'm there's no other. like i Another reason that I'm incentive that I like that I'm giving him some credit is because part part of the way that i'm rating cards is i'm thinking like does it have a good backup does it have an alternative and honestly he doesn't he he's creating something new you know i don't know that it's any good but he is a card you want because there's not a card that does
00:06:24
Speaker
this right like it is a it's a unique ability but it's like what synergies are there i mean there are six cost cards that are are six power cards that are synergies six or plus uh and there's king itri who can pull one of those demons back out but like i don't know that that's that's a pretty high cost for for a demon um is there a way there's there's not a solid way to like Reduce the cost in your deck and then use like a Jane to draw the battle.
00:06:56
Speaker
and But that's like questionable. And the chances of drawing fast does go down after you throw three demons. and Like it's just ah I'm between two and three. But like, i I seriously think he's one of the best of the season.
Examining The Punisher War Machine and Strategic Mechanics
00:07:12
Speaker
And I just i don't like him. This is a this is a rough one. Y'all I'll commit. Yeah, I'll commit three.
00:07:19
Speaker
But it's a it's a low three.
00:07:23
Speaker
That is very generous of you. I see why you did it. I give it a Yeah. um I'm going to give it a three then because I feel like it's possible. It's possible.
00:07:36
Speaker
It's being undersold a bit. Like there's something clever we're not thinking of. I don't know. to give it the upper end. It's the season pass card. They couldn't make it that bad. right I know there's a section.
00:07:50
Speaker
I know this effect will go away as soon as the card is in 3D, but I think it's really funny that in the flat art, it looks like he has a little ninja hanging on his gun holster. Yeah, it does. It's Daredevil and his baby ninja.
00:08:06
Speaker
I'd like to really quickly apologize to King ere I called him a one two earlier. I checked my game just now. He's a one three. I'm sorry, King ere We're cool. He was buffed to 1-3, yeah.
00:08:19
Speaker
I mean, at least 2-3 is a 1 cost. That would probably go with, like, a Khazar 1 drop you were trying to do? I don't know. It's weird, too. Khazar and Kyara... Khazar has a 6 power now, right? So, like, maybe that's real? Did they buff him to... Yeah, yeah, yeah he's he's he's got 6 power, right, I think?
00:08:39
Speaker
I'm pretty sure that's like the newest. I feel like they recently buffed Kezar. Ka'air is not a six. No, he's four five. Did they specifically shout him out?
00:08:51
Speaker
They shouted Shadowlands Daredevil out in one of the recent OTAs. Was it that one? They did in this most recent OTA for Martyr and Captain Marvel.
00:09:03
Speaker
Kezar he already indeed four six.
00:09:08
Speaker
Ah, but yeah. Am I on the next card? Are we waiting for you? Yep, super premium season pass, Ben. Ooh, super premium season pass. You know how sometimes it stands for super premium and other times it stands for stinky poo poo.
00:09:26
Speaker
And we'll find out which one Wilson Fisk is. That's right, Willie Fisk. He's a 5-9. Costs three if you have the highest power among cards in play.
00:09:39
Speaker
You know, I gave Shadowlands Daredevil a two that I might give some other cards. Ones. Some worse cards than Shadowlands Daredevil. And I'm talking about Wilson Fisk. What a 20-23-ass card. Wake me up when he's a 313. What is this? Who wants this? I don't get it. It's for nothing.
00:09:57
Speaker
um I mean, maybe maybe I'll be persuaded. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. Somebody want to talk me up from a one on Wilson Fisk?
00:10:09
Speaker
Okay, let me see. i I want to like this more because if you're going for like a high prio deck, right? This is the kind of one. you went in there. If you could double it up.
00:10:24
Speaker
But then you're still, that would be like a turn six play. and you have to keep holding it though until you play it. So you're probably not doubling him High pro to get to, you're right. It's awkward. is it really a one though?
00:10:38
Speaker
are you feeling? think so. yeah you're gonna defer to us again uh i between one and two his stats just aren't good enough three nine like if i want a three nine i'll play mockingbird i don't know like i'll i'll play star brand and techno organic virus like like he's kind of a a vanilla three nine except he's even worse than a vanilla three nine because you have to be winning the contest too and sometimes you won't be and then he's just a five nine like Yeah, he's bad. He's just not big enough to justify. like And honestly, like I think they could do 313, but I think 2-9 would be a lot more appealing and honestly like appropriate for 2026. think he's a 1.
00:11:22
Speaker
ah i think he's a one love how it creep so It depends on what you mean or right? like like This card is... This card is playable. He's not actively harming you. Like, you can win with him. But also, I would be shocked if there's any deck where he's a top 12 card. So therefore, one.
00:11:43
Speaker
Is it one of those things, though, where if you can't play him like, maybe you're doing something with the Dracula or a strong guy or... I don't know. Then why wouldn't it be, like, Giganto? You know, like...
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah, right. Because you want Wilson Fisk as a pack of... Hello, there's better fives. So... Yeah, okay. He's he's just so weird. Yeah, I don't get it. I don't get it at all. He hopped out of a time machine.
00:12:15
Speaker
i don't I don't know why we're getting this card now.
00:12:19
Speaker
and You can get him if you pay ten extra dollars. Yeah... Alright, this one's going yeah on the lower side. I'm going to give this one 1 because, yeah i mean, you guys convinced me. It's like I would just want to put other cards in any of these decks I'm thinking of.
00:12:36
Speaker
He's not like, he's like a high 1. Like, he's technically playable. I just i just don't see him fitting anywhere. he's a high 1. uh karen page four five on reveal give one of your one two and three cost characters plus two power each another example of a card that just does not have enough power she is asking a lot of you you have to have a one two and three on the board and then she's a four eleven like we're going to be looking at another four that just has more power and is easier to trigger like
00:13:11
Speaker
And technically you can reproc her, but that only gives you an an extra six. Like, she's just... I don't know what they're thinking. This is on tier, right, power-wise, similar to a Galacta, Gwenpool, or Kahori, but she's like the very worst version of that.
00:13:28
Speaker
yeah so um So I'm giving her a one for a similar reason as Fisk, where it's like she's technically playable. She's not like... You're not... don't know maybe you are throwing if you play her but like she's something she's just there's no situation where she is the best thing to be doing she's like a consolation prize for wiccan oh yeah i can see that that was the best thing i thought of but i don't see it now re go on What I wish for her was that she was a three cost because, okay, something I used to take great joy in was like goose ducks. It was where I gave myself ways to copy goose multiple ways, like Mystique, Nico, stuff, and just lock people out and just have a little board of like tinies. And I could do that.
00:14:19
Speaker
I built that originally and I could get it to work. And then, you know, like crushed by the meta. I brought it back as a small going, you know, like that's where it got its power from. And and that went and it's just like I tried to resurrect it a while ago and it is just tough. Because people have so much energy cheats, you know, like either they're getting under year three or you like have too much trouble boxing or they have too many ways to I don't know. It's just it wasn't going. And I'm like, I would love to get support to bring that deck back. That was a lot of fun for me. And this is like what it's for. It's something that rewards you for having little cards, but then they made her a big card. And it's like, well, you don't go you and play with the little cards. You got promoted. So like, I don't know. That's a bummer.
00:15:05
Speaker
Yeah. it's like I like the shape of these cards. I like the shape of Fisk. I like the shape of Karen Page. Like their abilities are interesting. The numbers are just wrong. hey It makes you like, it's like, did they get in a bunch of new designers that haven't played this game as much as we have? hu Okay, not that we're right about all the cards all the time or anything. We might be right about all the cards all the time.
00:15:28
Speaker
You know, most of the time at the very least. My reality is what I feel it to be. Oh, I'm going to give her a two. I mean, I like cards above cards, to be honest. I would mess with her even though she seems bad to me too. It's like she's up against Gwenpool and even Galacta in her lesser state, in her weakened state. It's just like, no, she's not there.
00:15:56
Speaker
yeah and i want to I want to point to those, right? Like, Karen puts the energy on the board, or puts the power on the board, and you don't have to pay for it, right? That's different from Galacta. But also, it's not hidden information anymore, right? So it's like, there's the advantage of you don't have to pay for that, you don't have to pay extra for that new power. But there's all this downside where it's like, you're just like, you're putting it out there, your opponent knows exactly where that Karen Page power went.
00:16:23
Speaker
Doesn't it feel like... It's like they're doing... It's like with Wolverine, you know? like It's just like they're just saying... like Just random buffs all over the place. It's like, have we done a buff in this iteration yet? And it's like...
00:16:37
Speaker
it's It's not exciting. It's sad. It's like when you hear about the next Magic a Gathering release, like, did you hear this IP they got? And at first it was like, oh, oh Magic Gathering is doing some of this cool IP that I like. And now it's like, oh, buddy. Like digging into the Rugrats or whatever isn't going to save you. Okay.
00:16:59
Speaker
Sorry. Continuing. Fantastic.
00:17:04
Speaker
um Yeah, I'm not a fan of this card ah for all the reasons that we've already heard. Honestly, I don't even like the shape of it. I'm a fan of the character. I feel really bad that she got done this dirty. um yes And like the comparisons to Gwenpool and Galacta, I'm like, man, that's unfair. We should keep Gwenpool and Galacta's names out of our mouth. um Like, oh my gosh, like I know Gwenpool and you, sir, are no Gwenpool. You are not even Ironheart.
00:17:34
Speaker
ah This one, two, three thing is way too restrictive. Also, buffing cards already on the board is kind of bad before turn six. And this card is not a finisher. Like it like it's...
00:17:47
Speaker
and it like the the Wolverine thing is that's that's a good point of comparison because he buffs cards that like your opponent already they're they're already there also he's bad at targeting and Karen's like I guess good at targeting because you probably have one one one two and one three if you've somehow threaded the needle and like stuck like glue to your curve it's just like the i don't like the shape of this card I think it's like it's just bad it's just a real real stinker i don't think it would have been good in 2023 I just think yeah I don't know i don't know about this one y'all and Karen page is so cool y'all watching the new daredevil oh my gosh um I have not yet it's the Karen season y'all but let's just say I have not seen born again season two yet but I will soon eventually
00:18:48
Speaker
ah Did you give us a number, Ben? Oh, it's a one. It's it's a one. Yeah. Oh, man. These poor cards. This is my birthday month. Why second dinner? Okay. um Punisher War Machine is going to be When drawn, mark one of your empty locations.
00:19:10
Speaker
Objective. Win that location for plus one max energy. I kind like... Okay, outside of... Lately, it's sad. I used to like only immediately think about like whether the card is good and where I would use it. And now half the time I look at cards, I'm like, do I like like do i like this vibe of a card? there's so much, like as we've said, kind of like slop cards that it's just kind of like, how am I feeling about this one?
00:19:36
Speaker
And at least this is like doing a thing. like It's giving you a quest and then, you know, if you it's like, okay... Second Dinner will never learn their lesson about like their max.
00:19:52
Speaker
Okay. um We'll talk about this later. Lauren had an idea about the energy curve that I think would tie into this conversation, but like, um we'll leave it. I'm going to be like spoilers for later. Oh, Ben is.
00:20:07
Speaker
Ben disappeared for a second. on Yeah, you're back. You're okay. I'm like, Oh no. Maybe we'll help. All right. Um, What I immediately like about this, too, is it's a real quest, at least, in that you can't, like, surprise win it, you know? you can't just wait to play it until you're definitely going to win, because it's going to mark ah Like...
00:20:32
Speaker
Sorry. Okay. um Because it's going to market... Let's bring on behind the scenes. Yeah, we're talking we're talking about... That has been lagging really bad this whole time for me. I didn't want to bring it up to like interrupt the podcast to be like, Ben, you're like horribly so sorry if i like I'm not catching your words. But like now hopefully we we are all... The stars are in alignment. He turned off the VPN. Yeah. Okay. But like...
00:20:56
Speaker
okay um
00:21:02
Speaker
It's too winning it to give. how does this compare to your other ways to get max energy? you can play it on two, but you can't win it till at least turn three.
00:21:14
Speaker
Right? So it's more on. You win it on turn two. yeah Oh, I guess you're think that's important. You're right. So maybe this goes with that kind of like big prio deck where you just slap in out cards. so you play this, you get that energy. Oh man, this is going to be too easy to trigger for a certain kind of deck. let me I think that the marked location will be visible to the opponent.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah, but like, I mean, for being able to win it the turn, you play it by like, he's only two power.
00:21:47
Speaker
But yeah you're you write something like Squirrel Girl or Nightcrawler. Almost when it turned two. Because a lot of people are playing their first card turn two, right? So if you have a Squirrel Girl. Some people only playing their first card on turn three. Yeah, that's true. Exactly. Increasingly true. people are skipping all of their turns to like, it's just, I hate it that this Snappy has become a battle of who can get the most energy the The soonest or the latest. late as possible. the most, yeah. like We'll have plenty of time to complain about that with Lady Bullseye.
00:22:19
Speaker
This has to be a three-star card, though, right? It gives you energy, good chance to do earlier, feels feels open enough. I'm going to give it that, but not a four.
00:22:30
Speaker
um who is Who's up next for ranking this? You know, I also arrived at a three for this card. It's a little bit difficult to gauge, but like, I think it just, nobody, none of the other ah two cost energy things give you a plus one max energy. You know, like Psylocke doesn't do that. Jenny Kale doesn't do that.
00:22:56
Speaker
um Like the closest to that is like Surge. And that's if you commit to the Lifestyle. um But I've got like a question about how the card works. so Since objectives count from the beginning of time and the lane is marked when the card is drawn, can you just win the lane one time on one turn oh and then play Punisher War Machine at a later date when you are no longer winning the marked lane? And like, you know...
00:23:25
Speaker
Does he remember that you won it once? I never thought of that, but i that is how I would read that now, because it doesn't say, like, be winning that location, right? like Like... ah I bet he's zero out of one. There are some cards that care about your current state, right? Like Apocalypse, or Ensavonur, and Juggernaut Horseman, they care about your current state.
00:23:46
Speaker
They can actually have their progress go backwards, but... Yeah, the way I'm reading this, I think you're right. I think you could... you could win it or ah you you do have to draw him for it to even get marked yeah But i think I think you could go like hard on that and then play him the next one. guess the other way. I would guess more that they worded it poorly because it feels more intuitive that you would have to be winning that location and they've always chosen to try and have intuitive wording over it. This wording is bad if if that is what it means. These objectives are messy. like Yeah, they are. Their language tends to be inconsistent. Yeah.
00:24:24
Speaker
To me, when i read this, I would expect, it would make sense to me that the card would, you know, you'd need to be winning that location while this card was on the board. So I feel like for sure that's what it means, even if they should reword it.
00:24:39
Speaker
ah he's a three for me. If you compare it to other like permanent, permanent energy scalers, I'm saying that with air quotes because there's like Luna Snow and superior Spider-Man that more or less give you ongoing energy, but it's not, it's not the same as what a Electro does.
00:24:55
Speaker
um
00:24:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's, or I guess Corvus Glaive is also in that, in that three cost ish range. So the thing that Punisher War Machine does uniquely is he can do it on turn two and,
00:25:10
Speaker
You're not, you don't, it's just a different downside than all the other ones, right? Each one has their own different downside, their own hoop to jump through, and this one's different. They're all good. He might be the most niche. I don't think he is, but even if he is the most niche, he still has his own niche and he'll still be good. He'll still be played.
00:25:27
Speaker
This card feels like a really safe three to me, possibly a four if he turns out to be really good. But I think three is a lot more likely, especially if your opponent can see the location, which feels like a safe assumption to me.
00:25:39
Speaker
At least it's an interactable card. Yeah. Uh, you know, credit to them where this does feel a little bit like slop. I do like the mini game locations where we're doing something besides, you you know, where we're battling for points or something like that. I would like to see them mix up what the mini games are. Uh, Abby, ah Abby is one of the only ones I can think of where the mini game is something different than have the most power there. Um, it's so cool. Abby asking you to have exactly two cards there first.
00:26:09
Speaker
Um, I guess like raft and stuff ask you to fill the location. That's also a different sort of mini game. But yeah, I like, I like the mini games. They're interesting. And the, the, here's another one. Um, Ben with, uh, limited time game card.
00:26:27
Speaker
We've got Ikari. That's a four 12. You can only play this where an enemy is afflicted with negative power. I have no idea who this character is. They seem to have similar color scheme to Daredevil Yellow. um you know i know I've run it into them.
00:26:47
Speaker
I can't remember. yeah it's a 412. You can only play it where an enemy is afflicted with negative power. And I guess what I think about this card is I wish you and Fisk the best of luck in repairing your time machine and escaping back to 2023. What is this garbage? yeah I love this card.
00:27:09
Speaker
I think it would do well in a more innocent time. um But I don't think it's for today. i agree.
00:27:20
Speaker
It's a it's a the high one, like the others. he's just He's just not big enough for what he's trying to do i do. This is the card that I want to compare to Karen Page. He's a 412 and she's a 411.
00:27:32
Speaker
She needs you to have a 1, 2, and 3 on the board. He needs you to have... afflicted one enemy and that's it like even just comparing the two of them he's clearly better but honestly he's just he's just not good enough um to me it seems clear he does not belong in an affliction deck but he's playable in a small affliction package right like maybe what you're doing with polaris horseman maybe you've got like a u.s agent or uh a red guardian always inflicts negative power as well and is like a red guardian exactly like have like a little small affliction package maybe he's right for your deck and so in that case maybe he should be a two instead of a one but even then i just i just don't know if he's enough power like it's a really high opportunity cost being a four and yeah uh how often do you see cold obsidian and crossbones anymore
00:28:27
Speaker
And I know he's bigger, but still, like, they used to be everywhere and now they're not. So I'm committing to the one.
00:28:40
Speaker
Okay. i i I disagree strongly. I think he's at least a two. Okay. um Where I do still see cool obsidian sometimes in Crossbones is in, like, Surtur decks.
00:28:57
Speaker
um Right, am I missing the card? The demon that gets bigger three when you play a 10 plus card. Okay, I'm just like, suddenly I'm like, ah they is is is snap getting too big for me? Okay, um...
00:29:13
Speaker
Okay, and that's also a great place to maybe play this card because you you sometimes then you're playing things like Typhoid Mary and stuff and Sauron and, ah well, with an enemy.
00:29:25
Speaker
oh Okay, not there, like, I like the idea of little, like, it's like, to me, like, I never stopped being Zabu-brained after the Zabu meta. Every time I see a forecast, I'm like,
00:29:38
Speaker
And the thing with what I like to do, though, is like put in a lot of tech, like I said, like a Shang is another great forecast to go with Zabu and that stuff. But you know me, I love so much tech that leaves me without power, right? So I see that I'm like, oh, like a Red Guardian. and And clearly a Red Guardian alone isn't going to support this card. But if I can, like I said, in a even in a non, in a non, something that is not primarily Affliction,
00:30:06
Speaker
It's like maybe this could get me some power over the line for some tech I have, right? Like a Cassandra Nova, like some other things I like to play with. I won't play with it.
00:30:18
Speaker
I do, to be honest. So it's it's i was i was thinking about giving it a three, but I'll give it a two because I see what you're saying. hey Maybe you'll come up with something for it, right? Like, ah maybe a Mother Ascani, and then you have two, three 14s. You did have to pay four energy to create them, but, you know, it's like, that's something. um Yeah.
00:30:42
Speaker
Okay. Oh, I wanted to say, I do actually know... I do actually know just a little bit about the lore of this character. He fights with Daredevil's fighting style, and so Daredevil assumes he is also blind, and then there's this like great twist in the comics when Ikari's like, oh, pick the red one, and Daredevil's like, what?
00:31:04
Speaker
fights like Daredevil, but also can see. um Muse. This guy's creepy. He makes like art with blood or something. Anyway. 3-3, ongoing, plus 3 power for each location where one of your cards has been destroyed.
00:31:23
Speaker
In a vacuum, I think this is really strong, is a 3-12, and it's, you know, scalable with something like... a Moonstone or like, you know, most of the powers in the ongoing, so it's not the worst Mystique target. But we don't play Marvel Snap in a vacuum. We play in decks and Muse, the Destroy Decks that want him, are the worst Destroy Decks, like Deathbird or Morgan Le Fay. Like...
00:31:46
Speaker
maybe Dormammu is like the middle ground where it's like it's a decent destroy deck and also it can play Muse but like Nimrod doesn't want Muse core destroy doesn't want Muse and because of that two is the best I can give him like he's like he's a big card but he has no home that's good three Okay, um, yes. I agree with that. It's the same thing. was just reminding me. rolled tokens. I was like, I went and I'm like, no, these cards excite me. And I'm like, well, maybe I'm going to play techno-organic virus. So, like, I rolled for it, and I got, like...
00:32:22
Speaker
the Archangel Horseman of Death. And I was like, oh. And it's like he was just getting buffed too. But I'm like, hmm. Because it's like, I don't know. is the problem.
00:32:33
Speaker
And I was just thinking, i'm like, are there going to be enough of these cards that they add up? And it's like, no. Because the problem is they need all the support from Destroy. They need to be one of only one or two non-Destroy cards in the deck to support, like, everything they got going on. And yeah, besides somewhere where you're, like,
00:32:52
Speaker
Like ah the Deathbird side where you're killmongering, you know, a bunch of your own ones for a cheap death, that sort of like shenanigans. Like, yeah, where does it go? It doesn't go with the other weird non-destroy cards because you got to destroy stuff.
00:33:08
Speaker
ah Too much stuff is... it it's like It wants to benefit from the Destroy without doing the destruction. And it's just like... just Destroy is is a home for like you know for hard for destruction. workers It's a really interesting comparison to Discard, right?
00:33:25
Speaker
Because...
00:33:28
Speaker
Discard is similar in the sense that like it needs things to scale, it needs disc it needs discard enablers, it needs discard targets, but also like everything's kind of a discard target, right? Like I don't know why it's different, but it's interesting to think about.
00:33:43
Speaker
Well, Kanchu made it where you could bring back like you discarded your Dirac or, you know, your Morbius, no bigs, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So just like, I don't know, do they need, does Destroy need, like, yes, good point. Konshu serves two different purposes. He's a safe card to discard, and also he recovers it when you goof up a discard. So like, a good card they need dual purpose Destroy cards, and i can't think of any of them.
00:34:12
Speaker
This card is barely a single purpose Destroy card. Wait!
00:34:18
Speaker
Destroy is plenty powerful. I feel like that's why they keep their, like, it's like they don't need cards to make destroy necessarily more powerful. It already, like, when it hits its thing, it's like counter it or, you know, like have your own weird combo. And um and so they they keep trying to stretch it in other directions. But like like I said, it's not with cards that destroy or are already destroyed, you know?
00:34:46
Speaker
It's like a destroy problem. Like, I want destroy to have fun subtypes, but yeah, this ain't it. This ain't it, no. seen Not even a little. A phoenix ah force in a long time, because at at it what's the everyone's just doing the fastball into... Yeah, I'm not a fan, to be honest.
00:35:08
Speaker
Yeah, me neither.
00:35:12
Speaker
Ben? Oh, sorry. Did I rate this? I rate it also a 2. Oh, did you? Okay. That's what it is. all right. Well. For Muse, the best I could give him is a one. As for Mark, as earlier mentioned, his best decks would surely contain death.
00:35:32
Speaker
And Muse is a 312. And I think we all know that death is a 012. And we're cutting something from the existing decks that would be playing death to make room for a 312. That doesn't sound good to me.
00:35:48
Speaker
uh i want to believe there are cute things to do with like moonstone or the ancient one but like i don't think that's anything how how are you destroying something on all three lanes and also playing ongoing synergies i mean like just it could be a two-core combo squirrel girl killmonger that's it easy All right. And then you put in Moonstone or the Ancient One and Muse, and that's already like half your deck to do a thing that doesn't win the game.
00:36:15
Speaker
um it's It's so silly. Like, I just don't see who or what this card is for. Yeah, it has no home in like... You know, I'm always trying to like believe in new kinds of destroy decks. I'm i'm like, well, maybe with Morgan or Archangel. or Just no, this card like doesn't even trip my trigger for a person who's trying to invent a new flavor of destroy. It's like, I i wouldn't play this card in 100 bad guys with swords.
00:36:46
Speaker
um I just think, well, would I? I want to believe. I i don't know. like y'all Y'all hear, I want to find love for this card in my heart, but I just, there's nothing here.
00:36:58
Speaker
It's not good. Okay. Ree, with our last Series 5. Alright, Lady Bullseye is a 2-2 with on reveal, afflict an enemy card with minus 2 power. Repeat on a different enemy for each of your unspent energy.
00:37:18
Speaker
i hate So many things I hate. I hate Bullseye. i hate my car. I like i hate i think Mero will get nerfed once enough people just play her, right? i think like you double up a Mero. I don't know. She's a menace. like Just not enough people are playing Morgan Le Fay. Ben called it, right? like Eventually people are going to like... She's a cool card to watch in 2026. Yeah, exactly. i think eventually she'll be enough of a menace that like they're going to have to nerf Mero, in my opinion. And um so like this does that, which I hate. And it combines it with unspent energy, which we just spent like two months hating. So.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah. Why? Why? They're like, hey, she's a villain. Let's just put in things people hate. ah yeah Anyway, ah that said, i mean, it seems good, I guess, at that, at doing that.
00:38:14
Speaker
I'll give it a three, but like, but I hate it and I refuse, i refuse to tell anyone how they can use it. It's obvious, and I don't want them to do it.
00:38:25
Speaker
Alright. After me in the rotation is... I forgot. Alright. I'm also not a huge fan of this card. And, you know, I've got similar reasoning. like My thinking is like, sure, let's keep pushing the stuff that tells players to save their energy and hold their cards back so they can barf hand at the end. That's healthy and fun to play against. um I'll also note that on reveals are the easiest abilities to repeat.
00:38:52
Speaker
um And i I mean, like, I think the card is good. It's not.
00:38:59
Speaker
it's It's weird. It's a little weird. And that kind of makes me like it a little bit. But like, I don't know, as I like, I mean,
00:39:11
Speaker
I want to believe that like this is a cool card that's going to help She-Hulk see more play and stuff. And I think you know it might. But like I don't really believe that deep down in my heart.
00:39:28
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. It seems good. That's what I think. it's like It's hard to... because like Most of the time I spent thinking about this card was you know before... Star-Lord finally got the the most recent and hopefully conclusive nail in the coffin.
00:39:45
Speaker
um i don't know. i don't know. She was a lot more dealing with Star-Lord, that's for sure. Yeah.
00:39:56
Speaker
Yeah. I don't have like deep thoughts about this one. I feel like other people have thought harder about this card. I think maybe I saw some good ideas in in the speakeasy for people who were more excited about this card. And I wish them all the best with it.
00:40:11
Speaker
uh i think it's i think it's good though yeah i i hate this card personally i think it's bad design i also don't think it's super good right like let's be let's be practical and maybe that's not the right way to play this card but you play her on five by herself she's a two eight what are you doing with that affliction right like is it no she's a 210 if you play her on five by yourself right because the first hit's free three spare energy yeah So she does six. Oh, okay. You're right.
00:40:42
Speaker
I made the same mistake the first time we read this card. And yeah I think maybe it was Ironcloak who corrected me. Okay. Two tens pretty good. But still, here's here's what I don't like. It's like, if you're going to synergize with her with something like an Ajax or a Diamondback, you would rather hit with Hazmat.
00:41:04
Speaker
Is that right? I guess she doesn't hit your own cards. High Evo when you want a high abomination for free. Yeah. He's working on Spider-Bay. Hasn't that just better though?
00:41:16
Speaker
Right? No. afflicts two things.
00:41:21
Speaker
only afflicts two things
00:41:26
Speaker
Only two... I mean, that's that's pretty good. You know? I don't know. Hazmat afflicts everything. no Maybe the difference that I just realized is that Hazmat afflicts your own cards in Lady Bull's Eye doesn't.
00:41:40
Speaker
like some If you're playing Ajax, you want to afflict your own cards. like That's fine. um The real reason i don't that that I am disappointed by this design is she is only the fifth or so card that asks you to skip multiple energy.
00:41:56
Speaker
The others being Sunspot, She-Hulk, Warlock, and Magus. And she doesn't really synergize with any of them. Because if you're playing her, you're inherently spending two of that energy that the others want you to be saving.
00:42:11
Speaker
Also, none of them interact with Affliction. So I just... She's just she's just a very weird card. I'm not a fan. Which might just be, I'm missing the vision. I think she's playable. Yeah.
00:42:24
Speaker
I don't know where, I don't know what deck wants her more than something else. I mean, surely she's a Shadowlands 3, right?
00:42:36
Speaker
I'm between 2 and 3 on her. I'm giving her a 2. ah Which partially because I just don't like her. That's fair. Ben, with our last limited time game mode card.
00:42:49
Speaker
Alrighty, here it is. jeez. Yeah, that's my feeling. um Anywho, this fella, Stick, when we all, you know, you know, the character played by the guy from The Leftovers on the on the Daredevil Netflix program. And also, you know, I'm from the comic books from the the Frank Miller Daredevils and stuff. Surely we've all met Stick. We've seen him around. Anywho, costs four energy, has three starting power.
00:43:18
Speaker
You're not going to play it at three power very often because the effect is on reveal, give the next card you play power equal to this card's power. Seems familiar. Seems like a lot of other cards that are really good. um Yeah, my thought is that this is just Maverick that your opponent can't interact with and that you get to play on turn six. don't get me wrong. I play a lot of this pay it forward force multiplier bullshit and I will surely play this one too. But I don't think it's like good for the game. I wouldn't be designing more cards like this.
00:43:49
Speaker
Oh my gosh. It makes the streets unsafe for honest cards with honest numbers. Like cards like this are the reason that 412 Ikari and you know, 399 Wilson Fisk aren't good.
00:44:01
Speaker
ah Like this card is the problem. Yeah.
00:44:08
Speaker
i number oh it's a four yeah ah if any card this season is a four yeah if any card is a four it's this one um I'm not totally sure it's a four but I'm pretty sure ah this card has a home Right.
00:44:25
Speaker
Cards that buff others and also want to be buffed have hit critical mass and he's an extra one of them. And, and yeah, four, and on as I've said, four is a high opportunity cost, but like it's worth it. If you're doubling him up, right. He's a four, six at the base and he scales very fast.
00:44:45
Speaker
I'm also personally excited because it means that I can make fire hair do this now that it's not reveal. Um, Yeah, I guess. It's just a clip thing. That's not a real thing.
00:44:57
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Look, Firehair is the coolest card in the entire game because it's a single card that can use multiple on reveals. Nothing else can do that. i Anyway, it's ah it's a four.
00:45:14
Speaker
You're muted. You are muted.
00:45:19
Speaker
you I usually forget to mute if I'm like, huh? I'm like doing anything, so it's like, okay. um I would say it's definitely a Shadowlands 4. For sure. It is, good yeah, I mean, everything you said, it's annoying. It's just like, this is Maverick, but it's not activate. And I'm bummed because it's like, okay, he's a teacher. I get, you know, posting the power on. But, like, that's not, it would have been, it's not cute. I want him to work with Elektra and Daredevil.
00:45:49
Speaker
Right? This is like so far removed. Like, why would you ever use this with a Daredevil or Elektra? Frustrating. Yeah, it's like they're not learning their lessons about the meta. Or they're learning the wrong lessons or something. They're learning wrong ones. And I don't...
00:46:08
Speaker
Like, it's good. I would be excited to play for it if we just didn't have the example of Maverick show out. And youre what you said was exactly right, that this is the kind of card that sets up the kind of combos that punish innocent cards. right This is the kind of Storm Legion you know scenario like that like that other cards are going to get nerfed for it. And then those cards are going to have a less of a home than they already have. And then the meta type, it's like... it's like
00:46:39
Speaker
Like a Jenga tower or something, right? Like this building, it's like there used to be all this fun stuff you could do that would be viable in the meta. There used to be all these cards that would fit into the meta. And now they just keep, it's like they keep getting pulled out. They're just not good in enough places, right? And we're left with this like skeleton of the meta that relies on very certain things. They did. They have been. We're going to talk ah about the OTA no later. So it's like in some levels, some of it is being addressed. But it's like, why are you bringing this? It's not new. It's not a new thing. It's not exciting.
00:47:14
Speaker
and We have this kind of functionality already. This is just going to be a meta menace. And like, we can't even have the fantasy of like our Frank Miller ah nightmares. It's like, you're not really daydreaming Frank Miller anymore. anything he's written so like um you know what mean but like let us yeah like let us have that and it's just like yeah so this bums me out but it's gotta be it's gotta be like a four especially among like this set of cards it said there I'm at all right I'm gonna ask you the the question that I always ask which one are you most excited for whoever's ready first can go first
00:47:58
Speaker
Ikari, especially because you hate it. That means that I'll have more fun because no one will play it.
00:48:05
Speaker
amen My favorite thing, when no one wants to play Ikari, I want to play. But like, that's the thing. But he's like a power that's weird to use, right? Like you said, you're like, I would get power other ways. I'm like, but I want to play with the ways to get power this way. Yeah.
00:48:23
Speaker
okay just i I know it is my type of card. I just wish that we had more cards that interacted with each other. right like That's why I think it's interesting. instead of Instead of sloppily giving out buffs to every other card, have have ways for the buffs for for the cards to interact with each other. We already have all the buffing cards. like I don't know. Anyway. Sorry. yeah Didn't mean to turn that into a rant.
00:48:48
Speaker
Do you have an and excitement? You know what I miss? ah There are no cards like that this season. Maybe I'm stalling for time while I can think of card that maybe I like better than... and There's only one of these cards that I'm going to play and I hate it. um But like, hey, do you know what I remember? I remember cards that move your opponent's cards. Those are good cards for interaction. And I haven't seen one in... um a very long time. A very, very, very, very very long time. Like, Agamotto.
00:49:20
Speaker
Like... Still play Agamotto. Yeah. Well, he's got Winds of Watoom. It's cool. ah But, like, wait where are all the Stegrons? Where have the Juggernauts gone?
00:49:33
Speaker
let's yeah sure let's keep nerfing cannonball i'll keep playing him because he moves my opponent's cards god damn it and like that's a good and interesting thing to do um so none of these cards do that like him for that they just want him to make things a rock it's not even i like him for both he's he's he's still man i was playing some cannonball-less decks this week i'll talk about it in my week in snap uh but yeah man cannonball's my boy uh anywho ah yeah i guess the card i'm most excited about this is so sad i guess it has to be stick and i hate his fucking guts yeah yeah it's the only one i'm gonna play i might play a little bit punisher but i'm with you stick is is the only one i'm still going to be playing in two or three months
00:50:23
Speaker
so that's ah it's is a bummer of a season like they're decently cool characters yeah I like Daredevil too though I've gotten Daredevil for so long it's one of my longest running that I have in leaflets you know like uh sad so it's like they started it off with a good birthday gift and then they flubbed it Right, and anyone that's a daredevil, I've seen it out there. People would rather have his sidekick blind spot, all these other characters, once again, and yet and ah like then another daredevil, it's sad.
00:51:02
Speaker
don't Credit where it's due. Only three of these eight cards are already characters in the game.
00:51:12
Speaker
Four, if you count Lady Bullseye, I don't know. She's she's different than Bullseye, right? She's a different character. I think yeah she's a different character. She's, no, she's not. Yeah, she's not bullseye. I don't know who's under the mask. Maybe it's a familiar face. I couldn't tell you.
00:51:25
Speaker
It's Karen Page. On to our side quest. First up, and only this week, Weekend Snap. Rhi, how was your Weekend Snap? And keep it snappy.
00:51:38
Speaker
Okay. um We will do... I'm going to call for a million years. Okay. I wanted to do a comics corner...
00:51:48
Speaker
And um it is dedicated to one of my besties, Lauren, of course, because I won't exist without her. but the reason for this will not be revealed until the end of the comic.
00:52:03
Speaker
Because, ah you know, it' it's a little mystery for the end. Okay, what I wanted to talk about was a Black Cat, who I feel like I might have brought up the comic before. It's been a fun ride that I've been enjoying because they've been letting... Willow Wilson has been writing, she's been letting Black Cat be...
00:52:24
Speaker
Black Cat, right? So it's almost, she's almost more of written as like, if you're familiar with like Booster Gold, a character, someone who is like, you know, not bad, but you know, little bit more about themselves and ah their glory than like, you know, stuff, but they're like a fun character to be around.
00:52:45
Speaker
And that's the way she's been writing her. And it's that, and it's also mixed with, um, like a little bit of a biting sociopolitical commentary, kind of in the vein of the best humor from the Barbie movie. Like when, um, uh, what's her face?
00:53:02
Speaker
The daughter character is, ah blaming Barbie for promoting rampant consumerism and fascism and uh whatnot and she's just like but i don't even control the roadways or the flow of commerce you know what i mean and it's just like it's kind of done in that vein as little like a asides and it's like very enjoyable to me okay but what's been happening lately is ah her friend her friend mary jane watson has come which yes they are friends now in the comics Mary Jane Watson is now a comics character independent of of the Peter Parker. like Also, she's like had her own title with Black Cat. um I mean mentioned before, which I have not read, but like she's like she's got the Venom symbiote now. she's like she's doing She's doing stuff and things. and I never really heard that much about her, to be honest. ah
00:54:04
Speaker
like i really dig uh her friendship with felicia like when she showed up it's just kind of like oh yeah okay mary jane she's doing the symbiote she and peter just how he's always gonna be having those conversations um but like this is where she gets to be fun okay because what i love about this is when they're like once again Girls palling around is like this new thing that like media has found out. Like, hey, like, like they did they did a Frozen and they're like, we could have sister. there could be like a main character. It could be like two, two women.
00:54:43
Speaker
You know, and then and then they all of a sudden they're like, OK, what if we do? OK, all the things that we've done with men. What ah what if women were f friends? What if they had like a buddy? And not to say that there's never been anything. I'm I'm hyperbolizing because it's funny to me. But like, but yeah, so like I've been getting to see these things in comics.
00:55:04
Speaker
I haven't been getting ah to see for a long time. and ah And, yeah, seeing seeing some women pal around on silly adventures is fun for me.
00:55:16
Speaker
And, um like, the shallowness of of their adventures is that what at first I really liked. It's just, like, it's so silly because she shows up and um she's like, Felicia, i I need your help because you're, like, you know, the the greatest thief of...
00:55:36
Speaker
New York Marvel. and um And I need someone. ah She needs to get, because, you know, she's like a media. It's Mary Jane Watson. She wants to be an actress. She's media personality.
00:55:47
Speaker
um And there's like an embarrassing piece of media on I think it's an old embarrassing audition tape, but I really wish they had gone on the way and said it was like a sex tape or something. It's like that. like It's a level of embarrassing material that someone has on her that are threatening. She wants to go, like, get it. i think for some reason it might be in the...
00:56:06
Speaker
No, the negative zone is DC. It's somewhere else. Sorry. And in a weird place. And so like Felicia's like, okay, let's go do this. And i love this because like, they're trying to get the same. They like don't, they're way over their heads. Right. Black hat's like a thief that like has gotten into some like mostly regular dude crime. And then like, you know,
00:56:34
Speaker
does stuff with Peter, but like, and like Mary Jane Watson is like, like last time we saw her, she was like wannabe actress who, no. what one it wanted to be. And now she's like, you know, she's like, I've got a superhero named Jackpet. I'm doing all this stuff. But they're like way over their heads and they like, they almost die. and and it gets to this moment where Felicia's like, what are we doing? Is this really worth it? Like this piece of embarrassment, like this media and stuff. And it's like, no, what are we doing? You know what I mean Like,
00:57:09
Speaker
It's not worth this. But like this moment is what talking This is like a shallow adventure, right? It's a piece of it's not like saving the world. And yet at the same moment, this is such like This is such a a modern problem for women, right? That I'm not used to seeing. What I'm used to seeing in comics these days is a lot of, like, men's fear around fatherhood. Like, a lot of these things. And, like, you know, I've loved comics for a long time. I like a lot of the themes. But it's, like, it's very do I come across one that it's, like, this is actually a huge, like, issue, like, for women, right? Like, men...
00:57:49
Speaker
in media have often committed heinous crimes and still get to be in their careers, right? Like female politicians, all of that, anything even lower, like lead like, right? Like, like, think about things that actors have done. And then like a female actress who's been like, maybe like, ah they've it's been said they're difficult to work with, whatever that might mean by whoever said it. And, like, that can be more detrimental to their career than, like, you know what I mean?
00:58:21
Speaker
credible obligation of seriousness behavior. Yes. and So it is a big deal, right? It's a big deal. It's really – and you have to, like, worry, right? Now there's even AI, right? Even if you, like – took all these pains to make sure no, no embarrassing media, nobody did something without your consent to take bad media. Someone could just generate it and put, there's just like no way around it. Right. And it's, it's something that it is something like a theme, like a fear, I think like a lot of women have to deal with the modern world. And at the same time, ah they're being told it shall they're being told it's told it's hysterical. You know what I mean? Kind of like how, like, your looks are all that matters about you, but, like, you only care about your looks. You know what i mean? It's that kind of dual expectation of of that. And it's like, I feel, I don't know, this just, like, showcased it for me in a way. It's like in a theme that it's like, I'm not used to seeing it happen. That, uh...
00:59:25
Speaker
That got to me. Okay. But, uh, that wasn't the point. Most of the way there, okay, they decide to leave. They get stuck in this place where it's, like, all these, like, alternate realities are happening.
00:59:40
Speaker
Right? And it's based on what they wish. And they get knocked back into their college-age selves. And, um... Oh, like Felicia's in college. They're all like there. Peter Parker's not Spider-Man. She looks up, Mary Jane Watson is doing Shakespeare in the park. And she's like, what the fuck?
01:00:00
Speaker
And Peter's like, well, yeah, of course it's MJ. Oh my gosh. And she's, you know, I wish I even knew her. She's like so famous. And Black Hat's like, okay, like Mary Jane tries her best, but she's not that good. I'm literally quoting her. i am not like having her drag.
01:00:16
Speaker
She's like, she does her best, but like, you know. that like a superstar actress but they come in and and it's like okay well you know like they get to have uh this this mary jane it's just like they find each other and they're like hey right this okay cool we're both like the real people or whatever whatever's going on here and then mary jane just So great.
01:00:42
Speaker
Because this should be the point where the heroes like escape. And she's like, okay, this is like everything we've ever wanted. Like, I'm a starlet. Like, I'm a star. Like, you can like be with Peter, like, you know, and you don't have all that, like, you don't, you know, and all of the bad things that have happened to Felicia. Let's just live this out.
01:01:04
Speaker
and they do and they're like okay for like 45 years like mary jane has her like you know star career felicia marries peter they have kids like she just like isn't able to start a career after that because she's a stay-at-home mom and like you know try launching her after so but then uh mary jane comes to visit her in in their kitchen and she's like okay okay, yeah, like this has been great, right? It's been fulfilling have a lot of experience. Do you like kind of wish we could just go back to our old
01:01:37
Speaker
She's like, oh my God, I wish every single day you would ask that. yeah So then they jump out they had to wish it because of the reality you're going on. there It falls apart and they're like, I wish we could just be on an adventure again. Sets them into like, I don't know, like, mech suits. i Stuff's going on.
01:01:56
Speaker
But here's, okay, here's where we get and here's where we get to the point. Because you know who shows up? A pink, a pink sparkly blue girl called Singularity.
01:02:07
Speaker
Randomly shows up in Black Cat! Do Black Cat and Mary Jane? Yes, Singularity of A-Force fame. One of Lauren's favorite characters. I took a screenshot and then I was like, no, I'm just going to tell her about this. And then, yeah!
01:02:24
Speaker
And she shows up and she helps them out and it's such a cameo. Like, if you didn't know who she was, it doesn't make sense. She's like, okay, let's get it. She's like, oh my gosh, you guys, I've been so invested in watching your alternate reality for like the last 30 years. I really wanted to see how going.
01:02:40
Speaker
that So she helps him get along and she's like, yes, of course I'll help you guys leave, but you promise to come back and visit me. I'm so tired of living in possibilities no one else gets to see. you She's just like, I don't know, stuck in some all-jubilant stuff. it was She's adorable and we all love her every time. She's like this magical, universal, all-blue nebula girl that like it's like we always want more of but you know we only get it in these brief glimpses. in random comics, like Black Cat.
01:03:11
Speaker
Okay. It has nothing to do with A-Force. She's a living pocket dimension. And yeah, like the like the only thing that I'm aware of that she's been in outside of A-Force is they did like a Singularity run in like, what is it? The Infinity comics? The little like short web app only ones?
01:03:29
Speaker
And that was cute. It was cute. But ah yeah, i did i'm I'm glad somebody at Marvel also likes Singularity. and and that she hasn't been forgotten yes i love when comic create like when comic writers are comic ah fans because sometimes they pull in people who aren't to be honest to write comics and it's like they're like they just like love a character and want to do what they can to boost that it's like how so many writers were totally shipping harley and ivy before dc let it happen because
01:04:02
Speaker
DC hates love among characters that is in any way, like, not artificial and temporary. And, like, but it's like they all these writers were kind of, like, creeping in their little, like, you knew they wanted it and were doing what they could. in the bad, I enjoy seeing writers have fun. Okay.
01:04:20
Speaker
ah But that was my comics corner. a um I would like to hear about Ben's. You can snap, please.
01:04:32
Speaker
Well, my weekend snap. Endeavoring to keep it snappy. I'll start my five minute timer as I frequently do when I think of it. And I thought of it today.
01:04:44
Speaker
um So I've been playing some snap. I don't know if y'all noticed, but a couple of cards came out that are sort of... In my wheelhouse, your Mother Ascani, your Storm Horseman of Famine.
01:04:59
Speaker
i don't like Storm Horseman of Famine very much. i don't think it's a cool card design. i think it's kind of a very strong card, though. um Mother Ascani, on the other hand, owns Bones. Very cool. Lots of fun.
01:05:13
Speaker
ah It's just super cool card. Super fun. um All kinds of, you know... they're the obvious things you want to get a cheap little copy of and, you know, cheap in the original and, make it bigger and all that stuff. But like, Ooh, sometimes, sometimes it's absorbing, man. Sometimes you want a second absorbing man. You play surfer on five, play a couple absorbing mans on six. How about that?
01:05:36
Speaker
Um, you know, like all all kinds of cute stuff, you know, get, get a couple of captain Carter's, uh, one cool thing to do. um so on turn four, you play mother is Gani, you get your two captain Carter's then on turn five, you play captain Carter number one in the front.
01:05:53
Speaker
And then in the back, you play Maverick. Then on turn six, you play the second captain Carter behind the first captain Carter next to Maverick. I don't know. Then you fire off a huge fucking brood, maybe play a Merlin spell or something. Maybe you've got extra energy and you get to play more cards than that. I don't know. Point is people. I've been also playing against a lot of surfer and I just want to emphasize to our audience that like, Answer for mirrors. Absorbing man is your friend.
01:06:22
Speaker
Also get real comfortable playing Captain Carter in the back row. Sometimes it's still pretty good. She's a pretty good card. Yes. i I know like optimal perfect. If you, if you want to like see the biggest numbers, You always want Captain Carter in the front row, but like you have to be comfortable doing weird shit that your opponent is not ready for and like seize the moment and ah all that.
01:06:47
Speaker
Anywho, I'm still like tweaking the decks. I've got several surfer lists ah gestating at the moment and I'm reluctant to share them right now um because I just want to get them right. I want our listeners to have the very finest in silver surfing technology, at least, you know,
01:07:06
Speaker
the the Benjamin Roller style of Silver Surfer stuff. you know i'm sure I'm sure our listeners know where to find good Silver Surfer decks, but like for the Ben Roller ones, I want them to only have the finest. I don't want to give them my B material.
01:07:23
Speaker
um Speaking of the finest versus B material, um oh, geez. It was so sad. Jamie Ding got... ah he He finally lost to Jeopardy.
01:07:36
Speaker
It was heartbreaking shit. Oh, yes. We fucking love Jamie. Bureaucrat and law student from New Jersey or whatever. Such a sweetheart.
01:07:50
Speaker
And so full of knowledge and interesting facts. And we just, it's it's very sad in our household. with this was This was a big blow to us. um But on a more positive note,
01:08:04
Speaker
We've been watching the second season of Million Dollar Secret. ah Hosted by Peter Serafinowich. It's kind of like The Traitors, except here's the thing. There's none of this bullshit with reality stars. that like These are all just randos. People real jobs. stars.
01:08:25
Speaker
Yeah, no, they're reality stars now. But like you know they're just they're just randos. And even though alan Cumming has... Just, you know, a a singular presence, a truly unique panache.
01:08:42
Speaker
Peter Serafinowicz is pretty fucking cool, too, right? He's a lot of fun. He was the tick in the live-action Amazon tick. ah But most important to me, he played George Spelvin on a classic season two episode of Archer. He also guessed it as a different voice in a later season, but that's not important. point is he's a great host of million dollars secret and it's a better show than the traders and just check it out if you have any interest in that kind of bullshit also i've still been playtesting montavi also oh my god i've typed up so many pages of notes and i wrote them i hand wrote them the first time and then i i typed them up and they just get longer because i think of more things to say and i'm attaching screenshots and shit expanding on every point yep
01:09:30
Speaker
I've I've ah I'm like, should I should I write a book if I'm comfortable writing this much? I mean, not a book about Montabi. My timer went off. um So I will have more in different games to talk about next week. And I just must know what's up with Lauren and her weekend snaps.
01:09:51
Speaker
Grand Arena is back, and I freaking love it. It is one of my favorite modes. ah and you know Everybody has a different stack of what their you know ranking favorite modes are.
01:10:02
Speaker
Grand Arena might be like my favorite right under Sanctum Showdown. i And there's two things about it that I love that make it unique. One is that your champion starts in your hands, so you get to fully build around this one card you know is going to be there. You don't have to give it any backup, any reliability, or like any ah redundancy plan. You know it's there. You can dedicate your entire deck to it. The other thing is that you start with two energy on turn one, and I just think it makes deck building and games so much more interesting. And I've been thinking lately, what if they just did that for the whole game?
01:10:37
Speaker
What if that was just the the normal thing on turn one, you have two energy. Maybe some cards would need to be balanced to account for this, but mostly I think it just, it just means higher curve decks.
01:10:49
Speaker
It doesn't mean ones don't matter. i'm done What's that? And we never play one costs again. I'm playing five, one costs in my grand arena deck. If you count human torches skill, I don't think it invalidates ones at all. How often do you play a one not on turn one?
01:11:10
Speaker
Sometimes. Don't you still play like you you still play Nico? Come on.
01:11:17
Speaker
When we were talking earlier about the cards, um you know, the the max one energy on like Punisher War Machine or whatever, i like it reminded me of your idea because I was like, this is what they're trying to do with the cards. They're trying to give people enough energy to do this.
01:11:34
Speaker
So it's kind of like like they're giving them that curve, just like they are in this. Sure, it's like later and it's some work, but it's just like, Honestly, like, yeah, I just wish it's it's so it feels like it's on. It's a completely different playing field when people have such different levels of energy that you have to chase the extra energy to keep up. So I'm not opposed the idea of once again, just whatever we have to do to like level it out and make it so you're not, you know.
01:12:05
Speaker
Everyone has to have extra energy. Right. Percentage-wise, every discount and every extra energy is worth less if everybody starts with, what, 27 energy instead of 21 energy, right? Like, it makes each additional one actually have a smaller impact. I just, I don't know, like... But doesn't everybody's deck become more high-curved then, in general?
01:12:24
Speaker
Yeah, in general, yes. That's what would happen, right? But that's part of my point. Like, higher-cost cards are more interesting, generally speaking. They do more. They impact the game more. And so... I just... I know you love your little guys. It's been remarked upon. I'm team small cards.
01:12:44
Speaker
Always will be. Yeah, and I'm team small cards, too. But, you know, what if four is counted as small cards? Like... they they it changes the curve of the game and you know you would still you would need to make finfing foom an eight cost you know something like that right like it it does adjust the way that the game feels definitely i'm not saying it's 100 a good idea but i think it's something they should explore just like how many turn ones and turn twos don't matter at all both players get both turns what if you had five energy there instead of three
01:13:20
Speaker
It's just a thought. maybe Maybe it would make the games feel snappier and more meaningful and give more flexibility, which means more interesting deck building.
01:13:33
Speaker
I don't know.
01:13:36
Speaker
I think they would need to pair that with like like reworking a lot of the extra energy cards so it still just wasn't like a race for even more energy. like Right, like maybe Sarah goes to six cost at that point so you don't get such an easy job having two turns of Sarah.
01:13:53
Speaker
I could see that, right? Like, yeah, there's going to be cards that would need an adjustment in this theoretical world. But, um, I don't Like, Snap is is is really, it feels good.
01:14:04
Speaker
But,
01:14:07
Speaker
I think it might be related to power creep, right? Where they talk about how, like, how easy it would, how much it would help balance if they could do half points of power. You know, I think Agony in the latest Dottie is a great example of this, where they decide one three is too high, and one two, one two might be too low, and they can't do one two and a half.
01:14:26
Speaker
But, like, if you increase the you increase the energy curve, that gives you more resolution to work with on how much cards cost.
01:14:37
Speaker
Okay. ah We'll have our Grand Arena decks in the show notes or video description. Rhea and I have both been playing Torch. I don't know what Ben's been playing. haven't i bought the pass got mother iscani and went home to play real snap with the cube at the top and you hit it and it makes the stakes high yeah yeah uh i also bought the pass this is the first time in ah a year i don't buy the event passes because i'm gonna grind them but i was like i want to play with mother iscani immediately yep yep i was like i'm not i'm not doing this bullshit give me that card i want to play that card oh she's so fun um anyway i'm playing i'm playing a hand buff deck the goal is make a giant freaking torch and then do flame on as many times as you can thanks to walking torres and wonk and then on the last turn you have one or multiple giant torches thanks to mother ascani And one other card that is huge. And I've had things like 96 Power Zabus because of this. So, you know, that's not usually how high it goes, but sometimes.
01:15:44
Speaker
um Very Lauren, very fun. do Do either of you want to... Well, not Ben. Reid, do you want to talk more about your Grand Arena deck? Yeah. Briefly too, because like I love, um I did love, I was wrong. I remember, you know, I was kind of down on Mother Ascani and I was wrong. She's super fun. I went, I also went Human Torch. I first went to like, they took away ghost Spider. Because I was like, okay, let me just get in the arena. So I, because it's like an infinity week and I was like, maybe I'll actually go for an avatar. And yeah.
01:16:21
Speaker
That's gone. I did try. i will just say I tried Doom Supreme. it was it was all right. It was fun to try a new deck. I tried Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider sucked. And like yeah start Stardust.
Deck Building Challenges and Strategies
01:16:33
Speaker
Everyone's playing Stardust. Sorry. I honestly thought maybe they would ban Stardust, which is why Mr. mr Sinister is still in my deck because I've been Stardust enough times that I would consider removing them. Surely they'll ban him so that Ghost Rider has a chance.
01:16:49
Speaker
The starter's ability is so weird. i i could not play with that deck. here oh I've seen, and essentially so some of it is player error, right? But I've seen so many people play Black Knight, and then they discard this the Ghost Rider skill, and so they get a zero power Ebony. It's like, what are you doing?
01:17:12
Speaker
Who builds this deck? And it's like, but it's like, it's really awkward, and it's not, it's like, I've built a lot of deck. You know me, I've built off small helidecks, I play a lot of Ghost Rider, and like, it's so, it's so wacky to me. I don't appreciate it at all. It is. his skill doesn't relate to him at all it it gives him four power and lets him move like how is like like okay ghost rider has a motorcycle like he's mobile but like how is that related to his in-game ability at all how does that benefit discarding like don't know you get his ability for free if you discard it i guess that's the way that it ties in but i just i think it's super goofy
01:17:48
Speaker
It's terrible, and there's just not a good enough, it's not a good ratio discard in, like, your draws or something. Anyway, so then was like, yeah, Human Torch. I love buff stuff.
01:18:00
Speaker
And like ah Mother Ascani is scanny so great. I went like kind of, love the direction you took. I also did like a a buff deck. um I mean, Akoye is in it. Otherwise I'd say, and Surge or so, you know, it's fine. I did Zabu again, like I said. i see four costs. I'm like, but what if we put in a few more and also a Zabu? I love cheap things. Okay. yeah And then, um but where I went is almost in a more, I love to use Mother Ascani as like, um for what I need. Because like a lot, Human Torch was always good.
01:18:35
Speaker
The copy, right? Like first steps, like. Make it big, beef it up. um Super Skrull, awesome to copy when you're playing Mr. Fantastic decks. um So sometimes I was copying that Iska the Unbeaten. oh Especially when you made her huge already and then she makes her bigger and it's like, I'm just going to get to play these two out and she's going to double for two turns.
01:19:00
Speaker
ah Okay. So yeah. and should Actually. yeah Right? And but like and it's like it's not just that that Mother Skani, I mean, when she does just buff Iska, that's still great, but it's like, these pirates are getting muffled. Sebastian Shaw is here, of course, um and Galacta, Mr. Sinister, maybe would get replaced because Stardust, there's lot Stardust.
01:19:23
Speaker
But um yeah, you know, i maybe could have made an even better deck, I don't know, without Toxidoxy. No, surely not. Surely she belongs. So, ah you know, I had great fun. I would have put Strife in it if he would have played well with Toxidoxy, which is an idea I got from Lauren when I saw Lauren's deck at one point.
01:19:45
Speaker
I have since cut them both, but I have played a bunch with Strife and with Toxie Doxie and with both of them together. And they were playing so nice. And then the next day I had two top deck Toxie Doxies on five and I was like, well, I can't play her. And if I don't play her, Strife's going to play her So ah yeah I was done with that. it was the it was the problem that you foresaw it's like as soon as i saw i'm like i have to take out toxi and you're like why you could take it all these these other cards i'm like no because like i don't want stripe because like sometimes you can't play toxi and you don't want to start immediately played so much toxi i like i just know i'm like she's not good at she can't handle the situation don't bring her there i'm
01:20:31
Speaker
i The deck really feels, and and mine is very greedy on hand buffs, and it just it really feels like there needs to be one more card that can do hand buffs. And there are others. There's Mr. Fantastic First Steps, there's Storm Horseman, there's Nakia. But it's just like, i want one more that can do like...
01:20:50
Speaker
i don't I don't know what it is, but just feels like I'm missing one good hand buffer. Storm Horseman was okay, but yeah i just really didn't like skipping those two turns.
01:21:01
Speaker
um Anyway. Check it out. my The decks are are fun and and flexible, and I don't... Torch is a blast. he's He's not the best. like I think Herbie is clearly the best champion out of all 21. And then Carnage is really up there too. and yeah Yeah, he's crazy. um and then And then Carnage is really good too. like you just make a giant knoll and play Zola. And that's really hard to beat, especially when there's so little tech like allowed because of the bands.
01:21:36
Speaker
But I'm having fun anyway. so that's the point uh i wanted to talk about the ota briefly but i don't know like it was a big one i shook up the meta hit three of the biggest meta tyrants not all of them because v hand and and horse gambit are still around but um yeah i feel like there's another meta thing that's still around but it is not if there is it's not coming to me I don't know. I feel like it's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't conjure it.
01:22:09
Speaker
say There's something I've seen too much of recently. but Yeah, something else that's that's like a big meta threat that wasn't touched in the OTA.
Impact of Card Nerfs and Game Balance
01:22:18
Speaker
I feel like there's at least one other. but I saw people say Inviswoman wasn't touched First Steps, but she was with the routine stuff. Holy moly, Invisable Woman First Steps is one of the biggest nerfs in the history of the game. I wanted to make sure you explain that carefully because it confused me at first, so I thought it would be valuable for you on the podcast to really explain that change. Yeah.
01:22:40
Speaker
Let's get into that. um The additional time versus twice thing. Right. So this affects... Mostly Wong, Onslaught, and Invisible Woman First Steps.
01:22:52
Speaker
Also, similar locations and similar cards, such as Ultron Mindstone, Walking Taurus.
01:22:59
Speaker
Basically, before, it was so that these things, the first one you played gave you two procs, and then each one after that gave you two more procs. Notably, if the first one's giving you, like setting it to two, it's only giving you plus one. So it's really weird because it was like, if you had three wongs, it was plus one, plus two, plus two. And it's just like super unintuitive math. Very weird.
01:23:20
Speaker
um And it always has been super weird. The way the Ultron stack are super weird, too. It used to be that one Ultron gave you times two, but two Ultrons gave you times six and three gave you times 18. It's just like it's just something you just had to know.
01:23:33
Speaker
Like, I mean, I could break down the math for you, but but it's so much easier to just know that those are the numbers. It's it's two, six and 18. Now it's more intuitive. Now it's two, four, eight, which is still like.
01:23:47
Speaker
It's still numbers that you just have to learn, but, like, it's a double for every onslaught, right? um but Confusingly now, they're all just... The others, Invisible One, First Steps, and Wong, etc., are all just plus one. The Onslaught still scales exponentially because Onslaughts boost each other. That's why there's still some ramp there.
01:24:07
Speaker
But like Wongs, are just they're just all plus one now. So if you have three Wongs, you get three extra procs. You're you're going to do your on-reveal four times. Notably, you could do four on-reveals with only two Wongs before. So this is like this is a significant nerf.
01:24:23
Speaker
give us okay Give us an example with ah Machine Gun Gambit, please, if you would. Yeah, let's do it. Okay, so Machine Gun Gambit, let's say you're doing like Wong, Gambit, Odin.
01:24:37
Speaker
Maybe we want two Wongs, just to because one Wong is actually the same as always. One Wong is the same, one Onslaught iss the same, one Invisible Woman is the same. It's only when you get up to two that they're different. Okay, two Wongs and a Gambit, that's four hits. And then when you, ah before, that was four.
01:24:53
Speaker
And then when you added an Odin, the Odin would go off four times, Gambit would do four times each. It was 16 more hits. Right. That's now Gambit will only go three times the first time. And then Odin only goes three times. So it's nine extra. So you're looking at 12 total instead of 20 total.
01:25:09
Speaker
Like it's a big difference. I mean, 12 total is still enough to wipe out your opponent's entire board. But so they didn't i'll play the pieces if they didn't hit all the pieces of it, now it's decreasing by quite a lot. they didn't get the full Wong Odin set up. Right. Yeah, like if you if you only have the two Wongs and you don't hit Odin, like two Wongs and Gambit Chameleon, that's something that that people used to do. That would have been, what eight before and now it's six? It's like it's it's a meaningful it's a meaningful hit. yeah
01:25:42
Speaker
ah Invisible Woman is one that gets hit extra hard because she's often procked by Jocasta. Interestingly, Jocasta unaffected because they still, like, multiple Jocastas still hit each other. If you have three of them, you're still getting 15 extra activations.
01:25:57
Speaker
um But Invisible Woman now is is doing way fewer. It used to be, like, if you had if you had two Jocastas and Invisible Woman, that would be five total procs, and you would get ten end of turns.
01:26:13
Speaker
now you still do five procs but it's but that's only five extra end of turn so it's six end of turns now it goes from ten end of turns to six end of turns like that's a really really big difference say it again but slow and so i can save it no okay sorry i am like know you Like, Iska's fine, right? Doubling six times instead ten times, yeah she either won the lane or she tied it. Like, that's fine. But something like dropping Thena on the last turn, that's a really big difference. That's like 30 power or 18 power. Sunspot.
01:26:47
Speaker
Like, yeah. Like, 30 Thena solos lanes. 18 is not enough to solo a lane. So it's like, it's a really big hit to to the greedy Invisible Woman decks. Yeah.
01:26:58
Speaker
um Still seems playable, though, gotta say. yeah Totally. This is like how it always should have been. you She was way too strong. Yeah. yeah I hated those decks where it would just exponentially go. i like It feels like now I have a chance to beat it. And now they, to really hit their sauce, they so they need the full, full setup. You know, not just like three pieces of it or whatever. I don't know.
01:27:22
Speaker
yeah it'll still be strong, but but i don't think you'll see nearly as many people who just blindly stay in and and and underestimate how much power you're about to put out of with Invisible Woman.
01:27:35
Speaker
I think it's a good change overall. like I'm mixed about it because obviously it makes cool combo stuff less good. but it does make all the math way more intuitive. And hopefully it also lets them make cool cards, right? Like it, it, it opens up the design space more for cards that would have been problematic with the scaling before.
01:27:56
Speaker
um Yeah. I proposed it before. I don't know where, but I proposed before it should just be plus one for each thing you did for each one instead of plus one and then plus two is just, it's just weird. It's common sense.
01:28:11
Speaker
Yeah. And then for the record, like ah November 2022 and earlier, this is like when the game is brand new. ah Wong and on Onslaught for sure, I think also Wong, used to be truly exponential, like times two each. And that just got wacky. Not that there were a lot of things to do with that back then, but that's when they first changed it to this weird like plus plus one for the first one, plus two for each one after that.
01:28:38
Speaker
Anyway, ah any other thoughts about this? I think Martyr was already great. I already play her a ton, mostly in clip decks, but still, she hardly ever moved at 1.5, and now she's at 1.6. Like,
01:28:50
Speaker
I honestly think they need to change her text. if if she's not If she's not a real card at 1.5 with that text, if 1.6 her text is even less meaningful. and She's just a weird card.
01:29:03
Speaker
Yeah, she's weird. I kind of like seeing her around. I'm i'm rooting for Martyr. And it's easier to fill your your board. you know it's more There's so many things you can do with her.
01:29:15
Speaker
You can you can ah virus her or ancient one or fill your board. like There's so many things you can do. Anything else you want to call out?
01:29:26
Speaker
I do. i mean, are we like about the the Star-Lord Fin Fang Foom? Xolau. Xolau. I wanted to point out about this kind of a so say i saw when I was reading the notes...
01:29:43
Speaker
They were we we have seen you know in the data that it's not OP. p So we really hate- Because everyone's playing Really hate making changes like this. We hate doing it. But to show that we're listening to the players, and you know and because we you know because players really hate it, that's why we're doing it.
01:30:03
Speaker
And I just like, I honestly hated that. So not in a- I did too. Because I said it in a tone that made it sound like that. But here's why. Because I want to be like, oh, oh, did your little numbers say your game is fun?
01:30:18
Speaker
I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being over here and playing your game and not respecting what the numbers told you my experience should be. Because it's like, you know what I mean?
01:30:29
Speaker
It's like ah quantitative data is not qualitative data. And qualitative data is all that like actually really matters for the game. It's only when that is stripped away, when that is stripped away and people can see what the numbers are, that that ever gets ruined. It's like when you were playing Telltale games and you realize, oh, not every time did they say someone would remember something that they actually remember it would actually matter, right? It's when that magic goes away, right? The numbers matter nothing compared to the experience. And I get it, but there's this mistake of getting a lot, like numbers are like obviously important and get it. I have spent a lot of time in my games, right? Getting the exact number right.
01:31:13
Speaker
Cause that's how you do it to make something feel good then. That little number that measures all those little things has to be just right. So it feels really good. But like, that's the point. So it feels good. it just infuriated me that they're they're looking.
01:31:29
Speaker
They're looking at spreadsheets. They're looking at data. They're looking at graphs. And that's how they're – that's like what they're basing all of their design decisions on. This is not a corporation. This is – I mean, they are one. But like this is a game. This is a game that people play. The numbers don't have all the answers. they don't like they're not going like Players aren't going to feel better because you said numbers at them.
01:31:55
Speaker
you know like ah Okay, I'm sorry, I've ranted too long. No, I'm glad you went off on that. Also, if everybody's playing like the same three broken decks, of course they've got normal win rates. like I don't know. Yeah, because they're all mirroring into each other. Very silly to me That suggests that... like I don't know. i Yeah, that ticked me off, too. When I read that, I was like, oh, y'all are goofballs. What are you doing?
01:32:20
Speaker
What are you doing? What are you doing? I learned recently, I can't remember where I heard this, might have been maybe a YouTube video, but I learned recently it's like a, it's a stereotype of West coast tech companies to be over reliant on the data. And I was like, that's exactly second dinner. Everything is numbers to them. And data is data tells you something. It's not worthless. Like I'm a numbers girly. I love data, but it's only one piece of the story. You can't balance a game perfectly with data.
01:32:52
Speaker
perfect Perfectly balanced games aren't as fun as imperfectly balanced games. if If everything is perfectly balanced, then your decisions don't matter because they're all equal.
Promotion of Gaming Podcasts and Jeopardy Discussion
01:33:01
Speaker
And finally, like, it just, it like Rhi was going, like Rhi was saying, it's ultimately about fun. Like, player sentiment is the thing. Fun is the thing that we're here for. Why? It doesn't, like, that's the number that matters the most.
01:33:17
Speaker
And yeah it's is goofy that they're basing everything off of WinRaid or whatever.
01:33:26
Speaker
That was the OTA in brief. i Let me pull up my ending stuff. If you haven't already, please like and subscribe. Leave us comments. They give us life. ah You can also come chat with us in the speakeasy. It's our little corner of Discord.
01:33:44
Speaker
It's actually a little corner of the Snap Judgments Discord because we're part of the Snap Judgments Network where you can listen to other great shows like... the titular grand pod snap judgments from pulse glazer and Nick, the Greek geek on Saturdays.
01:33:58
Speaker
ah I imagine most of you have heard it before, but they, they thoroughly cover everything in the game and have guests and, and do all kinds of little mini games, like actual shark tank, selling ideas to each other or ranking cards or whatever.
01:34:15
Speaker
Um, good, good stuff. We've all been on there. Um, have we, Yes, we have. know you've been on Snap Decisions. Has Riven on Snap Judgments? Okay. And I will do it again. Really early. i was before, yeah.
01:34:30
Speaker
Glazer, if you're listening, I'll holler at your Ben. The last, like, two or three times I've done it, it's been when a guest has fallen through, and Glazer is like, can you do it right now? And I'm like, who am yes? Yeah.
01:34:44
Speaker
um but it's fine i i like glazer a lot and i'm happy to help when i can i would say no if i really couldn't anyway uh tune in next week we will actually be doing the secret homework next week i think uh what is what is it oh play play infinity conquest there's somefinity conquests and bring all the tips and tricks and lists yeah uh we appreciate you all Tune in next week. Same snap time, same snap channel.
01:35:19
Speaker
Anybody have an outro? Well, I mean, Ben already brought, was all ready to be like, I have a crossover outro because I know Ben's been watching Jeopardy. But I also, I followed, at some point, I don't know when this happened in my routine.
01:35:33
Speaker
Okay, Jeopardy has long been like the ultimate trivia game, right? Like so many show because it's like, Like, when you, like, the people who love game shows for, like, trivia stuff as opposed to, like, I don't know, whatever random nonsense people like about other shows. It's like, that's what you like. You like the trivia. You want it to be pure, like, close to trivial pursuit where just question and answer. And, like, Jeopardy is that, that's why it has lasted for so long, you know? And, um...
01:36:03
Speaker
Like, at some point, it became, it's like the perfect length for me to eat my dinner to, know what I mean? Well, you know, being proud of the things that know that the contestants don't, or being astounded at things they know that I don't. Oh, yeah, it's great. It feels great.
01:36:19
Speaker
Yes, people love trivia, right? So like, um and it was so funny because like, you know, Jamie first came on and I was just like, oh, why is it? Because like, i I like to skip the banter because I find it boring. I hate when they do celebrities. They're like, let's do longer banter because people want that, celebrities. It's like, no.
01:36:37
Speaker
I don't want, not that Pawn Stars was ever real, but it's like, I don't want the side thing. I want the history. I want, like, give me give by the might, you know? And um it's like, I'm here for the trivia. don't want to know whatever their boring factoid you picked out of the three factoids. They pay i always pick the worst one. I'm like, this is you had your this is your, like, five seconds of fame, and this is what you chose to reveal about yourself. I don't believe they did. I think the producers picked for them. But Jamie, i was like, this man likes orange. I'm like, oh, no, oh that's your. Oh, dear You know, then it's just like over time. Right.
01:37:13
Speaker
It's just just like every time part series. I love that shit. Okay, I didn't listen to any of his banter, so I only know that he loves the the color orange and stuff.
01:37:24
Speaker
But when he finally left, when he left, and then we had to go to the first game. The first game without Jamie. And there's like, here's Greg or whatever. and it's like, let us see bureaucrat and a law student.
01:37:38
Speaker
Like I've never thought I would want someone to say they were a bureaucrat to my face so hard. And it's like, does he like the color? Or it was like, I miss the comforting presence of Jamie. You know, all we have now is this guy who's just like says every answer. Okay. I'm sorry. Like it is hard to be up there. am not even half as pressured in the podcast and what you have as well. So like, you hate the waste but I that I am flinging mud from a mud house. But like, yeah, he delivers all of his answers. like Like, oh, this is clearly the wrong answer. and everyone has to be like, ah no. Oh, in fact no my gosh. My spouse is going so glad to hear that you said that. Yeah, that's the opinion in our household as well.
01:38:21
Speaker
I'm always trying to be fair-minded and be like, let's not hate the guy just because he appears uncertain and he makes funny faces when he says right answers. Like, let's be generous, but like, I've been informed that I'm being too generous and we need to be a little bit crueler.
01:38:39
Speaker
It's just like, you don't have to have confidence in your answers to say them with like... Just a slightly, like, every time, man, every time. Hopefully it gets better, but, like, I think his name's Greg or Craig or something.
01:38:54
Speaker
It's Greg. He's Greg Shadi, chess master. It's not a... Yes! Not a bureaucrat and law student, a chess master.
01:39:02
Speaker
It's been a hard time in my life. I have no comfort in Jamie. I'm sure he's a perfectly decent person or something. See, I try to do it. I try to be nice.
01:39:13
Speaker
I just... I'm so furious. It's just a fucking visceral reaction. How dare you, honestly. Don't you know how much joy he was bringing? Okay, I'm glad that you also... He'll be back for the Tournament of Champions.
01:39:28
Speaker
Okay.
01:39:31
Speaker
He'll come visit sometimes. You're right.